SHILLONG, Jan 17: In light of the recent breakdown of bridges in different parts of the state, the Congress has cautioned the MDA Government to pay attention to the old Umiam dam bridge, the only link which connects Shillong with the rest of the country.
Expressing his concern over the frequent damages to the important bridges in the state, Nongpoh MLA and senior Congress leader, Mayralborn Syiem, said that the government should take due note of the issues crippling these decades-old bridges and do everything necessary in order to keep them in good shape.
Highlighting the state of the old Umiam dam, Syiem remarked that trucks are often directed to pass through this old dam which could lead to dangerous consequences at any given moment. He thus invited the government’s concern towards repairing the dam and expediting the process of the Western Bypass construction so that heavy vehicles could start plying through the bypass instead of the Umiam route.
Notably, Syiem’s statement comes at a crucial time when important bridges like Sunapur bridge in East Jaintia Hills and the Photkroh bridge in South West Khasi Hills suffered back-to-back damages in the past few days.
Syiem further stated that most bridges in land-locked Meghalaya are getting damaged mainly due to overloading of trucks. As such, he suggested that the Transport department should properly check the weight of the trucks through the weighbridges that have been set up in different parts of the state.
In his statement, Syiem further went on to recall the disastrous incident from a couple of years ago when even the bailey bridge constructed in lieu of the dilapidated Dwar-Ksuid bridge on Shillong Bypass suffered severe damages. The so-called “permanent bridge” which was supposed to be constructed long ago, however, still remains unconstructed.
While sticking to the matter, Syiem also asked Motor Vehicle Inspectors and police to be strict in checking the load of the vehicles and said that apart from bridges even the national highways which are an asset to the state are getting damaged due to overloading of trucks.
Citing an example of the state roads, he said that the specification for the roads is only 9 metric tonnes but trucks carrying 30-35 metric tonnes are plying on the road and hence the condition of the state is deplorable.
